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Cloverfield – Spoiler Free Review

Monster movies are great fun. Not in a Star Wars or Indiana Jones way, nor in a Snakes on a Plane drunken way. No, monster movies are the kind of fun you used to have when you played He-Man versus the Transformers as a kid. Sadly, American cinema has lacked a truly wonderful homegrown monster movie for a long time. Actually, America never had a good monster movie we could call our own. Sure, we imported and wholly embraced Godzilla and his cohorts. We even tried to update him with flashy effects and The Professional. It just didn’t work. It didn’t look right. It didn’t feel right. It wasn’t right. Enter JJ Abrams and Cloverfield. After months of viral marketing, months of speculation, and months of hype… One must ask.

Do we have one now?

As a classic bigger than life and nigh unstoppable monster movie? You betcha’. Us in the good ‘ol U.S. of A. finally has a monster movie we can be proud. A monster we can call our own. A monster we can now speculate if it can take on Godzilla, king of the monsters! (I ain’t giving my two cents. First, that is a massive can of worms and secondly, to say one way or another would involve spoilers). Cloverfield is a new take on the classic monster movie. By new take, I don’t mean the marketing campaign or the shooting style. No, by new take, I mean that Cloverfield is the first larger than life monster movie with everyday folks. Until Cloverfield, we only got to watch soldiers and scientists take on whatever beast came from the depths of space or the deepest ocean. This time, we watch destruction from the street level, both figuratively and literally. I think that was a smart move on Abrams part. We don’t need another science versus monster film. Just watching people trying to survive the onslaught made for a far more entertaining and exciting film.

What about that camera "gimmick".

First, make no mistake. Marketing Cloverfield as “found footage” is a gimmick. Not saying that as a negative. If you find an angle that will bring more attention towards your film, go for it. That being said, I did have some issues with the filming style. Issues that would regularly remove me from the cinematic moment. First, Cloverfield presents itself as found footage, used by the military to analyze the attack from “The Monster”. Yet, the opening of the film has close to 20 minutes of exposition and character introduction. As a storyteller, I understand the need to present characters so your audience can feel loss when they start to drop like flies. (No, that wasn’t a spoiler. We all saw the opening 5 minutes and this is a monster movie, you know not everyone at that party is ever going home again). I also understand that if an audience is dropping their 10 bucks on a movie, they better at least get their monies worth. Cutting that opening segment turns an already short movie into an episode of Lost. Still, if we are to believe this is an analytical film, for use by scientists and the military, it is damn hard to swallow the opening going away party.

Is that nitpicking? You bet it is, and so is the following.

Again, if you are presenting a film as found footage as shot by amateurs, starring amateurs, you need to avoid perfectly framed shots. Can the everyday Joe get one or town shots just perfect? Absolutely. However, I doubt anyone would focus on romantic displays while a beast is tearing your city apart. Maybe I shouldn’t be so picky. Maybe I should just be happy we finally have a good homegrown monster movie. Don’t get me wrong. I am, and I honestly hope for a Cloverfield 2. However, if there is a second film, I could do without all the human drama beyond the desire to survive the attack. Perhaps my definition of a monster movie is far too limited; then again, I walked out of The Mist feeling a profound sense of loss and dread. Cloverfield, not so much. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have a great time. I did, but only when people were screaming, buildings were crashing, missiles were flying, and monsters were killing. Whenever the action slowed, whenever I was forced to care about the lives of the survivors and there wasn’t a monster stalking them; I just got a little bored.

Cloverfield is a fantastic experiment. An experiment of matinee quality that I sincerely hope Abrams, Paramount, and crew expand upon. Just remember, less people. More monsters!